


the tree is too far but monkey bar will do too

by nainjun (longassride)



Category: NCT
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Jaemin is an aeronautical engineering student, M/M, Mutual Pining, Renjun is a business student, aged up character but not much, chenle is renjun's baby, jisung and chenle are 6 years old, jisung is jaemin's baby, semi domestic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-30 00:23:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16275389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/longassride/pseuds/nainjun
Summary: Renjun never allows his little brother watch Youtube because 1) He doesn’t want him to mature earlier or accidentally find PG-13 songs, 2) He doesn’t want him to grow to be a basic (pop) bitch. Little did he know that his little brother’s elementary starter kit is “The K-i-s-s-i-n-g Song”





	the tree is too far but monkey bar will do too

Huang’s humble castle is silent since Chenle finished his lunch and was tucked into bed by Renjun before the boy cleaned the scattered rice and flying broccoli and small ponds of soup leftover. Renjun has been jabbing the TV’s remote control for three hours—sprawled legs and dopey eyes—because it’s Friday and his favourite channel ironically doesn’t provide good shows on the only day he can lazy around on his cosy living room and actually make a good use of his TV. (He usually uses it only for Bloomberg because his professor threatens to ask them about exchange rates whatsoever ten minutes before the lecture.)

 

Not finding the best program for him except his five-year-old little brother’s favourite (Cbeebies, of course), the older switches off the device and leans back on the recliner his father used to sit. His trail of thoughts runs to his mom who is in the office, dealing with dozens of stress’ source. She must be so amazing that he can deal with two stresses in the house (him and Chenle) and additional ones in the workplace and she still manages the household very well. They are not noticeably rich but aren’t deficient in anything too. Everything’s just right, just average, just okay. His dad is an architect and he is a warm, lovely man with the biggest support and love for his family. And he can be pretty shameful in school’s olympic days but that’s okay. Everyone is shameful in their own ways.

 

Renjun has been babysitting Chenle several times but as the youngling grows older (and heavier and smarter), he grows to be a headache too. And dolphin laugh, oh my god. Renjun has ever asked his mom if they are partially _Delphinus_ because Chenle can break a glass with his laugh. The last time Renjun could chill while taking care of his brother was two until three years ago when Chenle hadn’t learned so many movements. Now that he is able to control his body, Renjun almost breaks his spine every time he is left with the young boy for the next 24 hours.

 

This doesn’t mean Chenle only grows devilish and vicious. He is also an angel, so cute and looks so much like their dad. The boy gives the best hug when Renjun’s feeling down and the best smooch when the older scoops him after his class, excited to meet his baby boy. Chenle is practically the new sun in the house, everyone loves him, and just as much as he annoys Renjun, he returns more love than he thinks he’d given him. Plus, he is so squishy Renjun develops cute aggression for him.

 

“Ge?” calls the tiny boy with the weakest, droopy voice he could muster. Renjun scrambles to his feet hearing the call and finds Chenle rubbing his eyes cutely with his balled fist at the last tread. He smiles softly before approaching the boy and carries him. Chenle instantly wraps his little arms around Renjun’s neck and buries his face on the crook of it. Renjun sways a little while patting the boy’s bottom gently in order to put him back to sleep. Chenle is five but he acts like three.

 

Renjun’s boisterous laugh blasts in the spacious room when he hears the baby issues, “I’m tired sleeping.” He lifts his brother so he can see him stifling a cute yawn and playfully nuzzles his nose to the smaller boy’s nose just because…. Cute aggression.

 

“You’ll be thankful to have three-hour nap, baby boy. You’ll beg for every entity to have it when you grow up,” says Renjun. Chenle emits a confused sound but Renjun brushes it off by offering Cartoon Network.

 

“But I’m bored, ge. I don’t want TV. I want pops,” the boy replies softly. Renjun remembers Chenle’s endless failure in pronouncing ‘popsicle’ so his dad cut it into ‘pops’ for the boy. Whenever Chenle says ‘pops’, the whole country will know he is asking for a popsicle.

 

“Pops?” Renjun looks at him as the gear inside his head does the calculation and analysis. It’s good to go outside after spending the first nine hours in the house and doing absolutely nothing productive. The sun is not too scorching at this hour too so Chenle can grow tall.

 

“Okay. Let’s buy pops. Plus, you can play in the park,” Renjun agrees.

 

“I want to play with Mochi!!! Can we play with Mochi in the park, ge???”

 

 _Mochi,_ the nickname for the little boy next door for his squishy face. Na Jisung from the Na household. The very partner in crime of Chenle. The boy who light up stars in his little brother’s eyes more than dumplings do. The younger brother of _Na Jaemin._

 

His face reddens instinctively at the thought of the boy around his age. They went to different schools until they officially graduated. They only met at the bus station in the morning before school and at their own little brothers’ birthday party. Once Jaemin reached eighteen, he no longer rode the bus to school but hopped on a sportbike instead. Renjun was disappointed but knew he had no reasons to be.

 

They only exchanged a few smiles and ‘hello’s because Renjun is busy being a blushing mess and wishing the other boy to leave. Jaemin thought it’s best for him to smile the awkwardness away but that’s why Renjun only ducked his head even lower. His smile is the epitome of an exciting morning and a stressless starry night and a warm but refreshing summer wind and Renjun just can’t ignore the fact that he may have liked Jaemin a little too much, beginning from the love for his smile. Not in the way he likes Chenle or his beloved NCT 127 member, Winwin, but the kind of like that drives his nerves to lean on the window sill to see what Jaemin’s doing behind his translucent window. Sometimes, he can see his tensed back due to intensive studying, some other times he can see him change but he is innocent enough to run away quickly from his window and never want to find out the rest of the story. The kind of like that punishes him for making incoherent noises when facing Jaemin and staying idly in the “pining” zone. The kind of like that makes him giddy with urges to kiss the light out of the boy.

 

They do enter the same university, apparently because both their parents are not awkward like their first-liner kids and suggest that they should enter the same university, after a six-hour discussion and calculation, even though they are taking different majors. Renjun is struggling with the business and economics study while Jaemin is dealing with planes. Yes, aeronautical engineering. The day both parents discovered about it (which is at the university’s opening ceremony), they went ballistic, talking about they should build an aviation company in which Renjun will run the service business and Jaemin will supply as the manufacturer of civil transport aircraft, like The Boeing Company. As long as the Chinese boy remembers, ever since he studied about types of businesses, he immediately scratched the idea of making a family-run business but here, in the warm and lovely living room of the Na’s house, he betrayed his own belief. Secretly. Jaemin, as the more diplomatic and easy-going person between the two, politely welcomed the concept, saying that he’d love to merge the company if Renjun’s planning to make one. Their parents went wild, but less than what was on Renjun’s cheeks.

 

(And Jaemin dared to wink at too him. Newsflash.)

 

“Ge, are you thinking of handsome hyung?” says the small voice next to his ear and Renjun automatically nods but quickly realizes his mistake when he sees the growing mischievous smile on his little brother’s face. “No! Gege is not thinking about anyone, really!” says him while hastily shakes his head that it almost snaps from the axis.

 

“Yeah…” Chenle drawls like swag kids. Renjun turns wide-eyed at him.

 

“What did you say? Did you watch the you-know-what??”

 

“No! I learn from gege every time gege calls Donghyuk hyung!” the little boy in his arms advocates. Renjun mentally palmfaces. The younger must have heard it when he talked about his crazy crush on Jaemin to Donghyuk and the sun-kissed boy scolded him like a mom for doing nothing. The older pinches the soft flesh of his younger brother’s triceps gently and Chenle retorts with a pinch on his cheek and a wide grin.

 

_Ah, he’s fully awake now. Time to labor._

 

With the thought, he climbs the stair to change both of their clothes into something nicer. No-one wants to look stuffy only for popsicles and evening hangout with the baby you’re babysitting.

 

*

 

The journey to the park is quite short with Chenle skipping and jumping and Renjun is trying to keep him from a car accident or falling unnecessarily into the water gutter. The whole commotion through their short course and the fern green shirt that begins to stick on his back make Renjun craves even more for a good, sweet popsicle. He can’t think of anything other than a blueberry popsicle and big leafy tree near the children’s playground where he can enjoy the Indian summer’s humid air and genial wind against his cheeks.

 

Finally, they can see the popsicle cart situated in front of the playground with a troop of excited kids swarming around them. Chenle is screaming loudly, hopping and bouncing to celebrate their arrival while still holding Renjun’s hand. The older only smiles at him and proceeds to the cart.

 

“Stay here, okay? Don’t move before I’m done,” orders Renjun when they are already in front of the cart. The flock of kids has dispersed as they retrieve their own popsicles and scatter to different directions. He lets go of Chenle’s smaller hand to the seller. He is a tall guy with the face that screams uwu when he smiles and accidentally shows the bunny teeth.

 

“Hi, Renjun! What is your popsicle mood for today?” asks him cheerily at Renjun. They have known each other due to the constant purchase Renjun makes. The shorter boy grins, replying with “Hi, Jungwoo!” before choosing the lemon-lime for Chenle and points at the picture of the peach popsicle when a rich voice exclaims, “Oh, I like that too!” close to his ear.

 

Renjun yelps oh-so-manly and turns around in hurry to see the owner of the voice, furiously planning to strangle the stranger for giving him a cardiac arrest. He bumps into the guy because he can care less only to meet the face of Na Jaemin only a few inches to his own face, wincing at his chest where Renjun boldly shouldered him before. He manages a smile, an agonized one, to Renjun with one of his hand steadily rubbing his chest.

 

“Hi, Injun. Long time no see... I guess,” says him cheekily. Renjun remains stupefied with the view in front of him. Jaemin in a leather jacket and Alt-J’s Plane Tessellate shirt underneath it. His long legs are clothed in black jeans and he wears his worn-out converse that Renjun notices, has been a friend of him since high school. Renjun drifts his eyes upwards and notices that the boy even styles his hair into his usual raised right parting style and a piercing on his ear that he already has for two years.

 

“Is this the reason you’re extremely silent in every family gathering? Cus you’re intensively checking me out?” There’s an evident mischief in his tone and of course, the infamous smirk. Renjun has told Donghyuk a hundred thousand times that Jaemin is the hottest when he smirks but at this moment? He won’t admit an outright defeat. Plus, he should cover up the fact that he’d seen his muscular back once when he was daydreaming from the window. He has kind of crossed the “checking out” line but has not at the same time, so let’s not be obvious. _Let’s just show him the real you, Huang Renjun. You are never easy, you are sassy._

 

So, he punches the other side of Jaemin’s chest, emitting an involuntary oomph out of the boy, before turning around again and continues his order. Jungwoo has a knowing smile while pointing at his cheeks.

 

“You’re blushing,” mouths him in which Renjun immediately rubs his cheeks in panic as if it will help to put out the wildfire. Jungwoo only giggles, taking out two popsicles from the cooler box as the Chinese boy orders and handing them to him. Renjun receives them, expressing his gratefulness to Jungwoo cheerfully, and escapes ~~Jaemin~~ the place.

 

Only when he’s about to call Chenle, his smile falters. The boy is nowhere in his peripheral, nowhere on his previous spot that he’s promised to stay, just nowhere. Panic shoots up through his blood veins, right to his brain and heart, and electrocutes his functioning motors.

 

He only stands there with popsicles that begin to melt under the humid air and nothing in his head. He doesn’t know what to do first suddenly, his ability to reason has shut down and energy immediately drains from his body. He almost follows his first intuition to drop the popsicles and dashes around the park to find Chenle when Jaemin appears in front of him with the same big smile. Except it looks extremely annoying when Renjun is in a panic state.

 

“It’s okay, Jun. Chenle is with Jisung now,” states the boy calmly. Renjun looks up to him blankly and replies with the last energy remains. “How?”

 

“I came here with Jisung and we wanted to buy popsicles too. And I met you, and Jisung met Chenle, they went hysterical and immediately ran for the slide and swing and merry-go-round and teeters-tott-” Jaemin’s sentence is cut when he sees Renjun falls to his feet, his popsicles are ditched on the ground simultaneously, melting and making two puddles of green and pink colour. Jaemin directly crouches to check on Renjun.

 

“Jun, you okay??? Injun-ah???” Jaemin also ditches the popsicles so he can grab each side of the smaller boy gently. Renjun looks up to meet Jaemin’s eyes, for the first time the boy doesn’t display his blinding smile. It’s all worry written in his face with no sign of mischief or playfulness like usual. Is this how Jaemin looks like if he is worried? Because he is still unearthly handsome with those creases forming on his forehead and eyes so sharp but glossy with uncertainty and something close to fear.

 

So, the first thing Renjun intelligently does to prove he is fine is chuckle. The small fit of laughter rings in Jaemin’s ears and the boy exhales the air he has been unknowingly holding in.

 

“Damn, you are full of surprise, Jun.” The boy says, half annoyed and half relieved. “Full of surprise.”

 

*

 

The two young adults end up buying popsicles again since the previous ones had become disgusting ponds of rainbow colors. Except for this time, Jaemin doesn’t buy anything but pays for two nonetheless. Renjun profoundly refuses the idea but Jaemin under the sun is as solid as the drying cement. Jungwoo is not being helpful, too this time by shouting “Happy dating!” that the whole world knows the fucking lie (but Renjun secretly wants it anyway).

 

“Thanks!” Jaemin shouts back, making Renjun snaps his head at a neck-breaking speed. “What? You forget something? You miss your wallet?” He says casually.

 

“Wow, you just lied, Na Jaemin.”

 

“It’s a good blessing, though. Can’t miss that one,” Jaemin shrugs, still holding on the popsicle’s stick and Renjun shuts up because the more he opens his mouth, the more confused he will be. Just stay silent but don’t get misled.

 

Proven that Chenle and Jisung are fine and now are busy playing swings. They have the biggest smile for a moment and their cheeks rise due to the wide smile. Renjun admits that Chenle never shines so bright like that when he is only with their family. Jisung should consider lucky to be a boy who makes Chenle so happy. Although, he isn’t sure too if it’s the play time that makes his little brother happy or the fact that Jisung is his favourite person alive that triggers the big-ass smile.

 

“Let me give the boy their popsicles. You sit under the tree or whatever,” Jaemin instructs him before taking the popsicle from his hand. “But don’t go home! Two headaches make one vertigo.” Renjun’s smile grows softly at the remarks and he swears, Jaemin replies that with a bigger smile before approaching the kids, hands full of popsicles.

 

Renjun finds the big tree he used to sit on while monitoring Chenle in the playground, making sure the boy doesn’t get any scratches or pull a bitch’s hair. He places himself in the middle of two big surfacing roots and leans back to the tree’s strong trunk. He exhales once and darts his eyes to every possible direction until he stops at Jaemin and the two boys. They are now approaching him under the tree, which makes him frown in confusion because the boys rarely loosen their tight grip on the playground’s devices. Chenle and Jisung are walking hand-in-hand, eating their popsicles happily and chattering about something incoherent. But they laugh at it anyway, so, it’s not a problem.

 

Behind them is Jaemin, tall and towering, but never intimidating, never frightening. He has a smile across his face, following the kids’ movement like a shepherd and popsicle-glazed fingers from all of the melted substances, hanging on each side of his body. From his point of view, Jaemin looks warm, looks familiar, looks like a father of two instead of an older brother with his posture. And Renjun feels warm all over his body again at the thought.

 

 _Renjun, stop thinking of the unthinkable,_ repeats him silently like a mantra.

 

“Gege!!!” Two voices harmonize and Renjun hurriedly wipes Jaemin away from his head. The boys are rushing to him with the tapering popsicle in their hands. Jisung even has finished his and leaves only the stick.

 

“Hi, Lele. Hello there, Jisung,” he welcomes them in his arms, giving both of them kisses on a cheek. He takes out a pack of wet tissue from his pocket and gives one to Jisung and another one to Jisung. He takes the last one and proceeds to hand it to Jaemin standing in front of him. He looks up only to see Jaemin’s been smiling softly to him for God knows how long and instead of creeped out, he shyly hands the tissue to him. The boy’s smile multiples a couple of watts as he takes the wet tissue and says his thanks.

 

“So, why don’t you guys play again?” Renjun asks the smaller boys.

 

“Jaemin hyung-”

 

“Mochi-” and the boys whisper-fight about who they should call out in this situation, or alternatively whether they should keep going on with the lie or cancel that. Renjun lets out a small laugh when he sees Jaemin looks away with blushing cheeks and clears his throat. The kids decide to be truthful at the end, mainly because Jisung professionally persuades Chenle.

 

“Jaemin hyung proposes to play ‘the hibiscus flowers bloom’, with us.”

 

Renjun looks up again only to show a wider smile because it’s so childish of Jaemin to think about that and he can’t imagine a twenty-year-old aeronautical engineering undergraduate is able to think of this. But he finds it cute and he thinks of it as a way to reduce their tenses and awkwardness, now that Jaemin knows he is not talking to him because not because he hates him.

 

“Okay! Let’s play!” Renjun stands up on his feet, the kids are getting excited, and there’s a washed hesitation from Jaemin’s face, knowing that the older has agreed to play with him.

 

Jaemin starts as the ‘it’ and Renjun is ironically the first one to lose because he trips on his shoelace. The moment he falls down is timely with Jaemin’s quick turn. The boy has a threatening laugh inside his mouth and when Renjun approaches him with a pout to poke his cheek, the boy’s laughter explodes. The older is getting salty over the fact that he ignores the fact that his new long time crush friend is suffering but he eventually asks if Renjun is okay and needs aid. The boy shakes his head to confirm that and after taking a temporary look at him, Jaemin slides his fingers to lace them with Renjun’s smaller ones. The older’s breath hitch at the contact but remembers it’s the rule of the game, that the loser needs to hold hand with the ‘it’ only to be caught again later, maybe. He calms his thundering heart and tries to adapt with it as they are going to do rounds and he will hold Jaemin’s hand a lot of time.

 

They play until the sky is turning a little rose gold but it’s still bright enough for them to stay for a while. They spend a lot of energy, mostly for laughing, either because the smaller kids are acting so cute or the young adults are taking turns to be a complete idiot. Renjun catches Jaemin sustaining the crane’s kungfu pose but his expression is too funny that he takes a whole minute to laugh and the taller voluntarily outs himself because his body can’t endure anymore with the waste of time Renjun makes. One time, Jaemin opens his eyes to see Renjun planning to give Jisung a piggyback but he talks faster that the boy has no time to climb on Renjun and they are stuck in the crouching position. And another time is when Chenle opens his eyes to see Jaemin carries Renjun bridal style and Jisung hugs his brother’s leg because he has lost a creative pose stock to show. Chenle doesn’t hear Jaemin’s muttered “Lord, help” of course and continues laughing.

 

They are cooling down under the tree, the young adults leaning on the trunk side by side with their smaller brothers sitting on their laps. Their shoulders brush frequently but none of them mind. Renjun has gotten used to it, to their brushing skin, to Jaemin’s weird action, to his flirty remarks, only in one hangout. And now they are sitting side-by-side, basking in each other’s presence that none of them thinks they will need someday like he has been imagining this whole time.

 

“Hyung, let’s play in the playground!” Jisung exclaims, pulling Jaemin’s thumb with his smaller fingers. Chenle already gets up on his feet and pulls Renjun’s arm. The older boys kindly refuses but the kids, just like Jaemin, are like a drying cement under the sun. Jaemin exchanges look with Renjun before the other boy is successfully being dragged by his little brother. Jisung gives his older brother a look and Jaemin has no other choice than comply.

 

Most of the time, Renjun and Jaemin are just watching and acting as lifeguards. The kids love the teeter-totters but quickly find it boring. So, they run to the swings. They make their older brothers push them from behind, which both Renjun and Jaemin accepts nonchalantly but weirdly find amusement in doing so. Plus, the way their little brothers laugh indicates just how happy they are. When they are already tired with the swing, they run to the other device: the merry-go-round. Jaemin and Renjun immediately trail behind them.

 

This time, Jisung makes Jaemin turn the wheelie for them. Boisterous laugh and very loud cheers resonate in the air as they turn quicker and quicker. Renjun only watches worriedly from the side, wondering if Jaemin will be okay after spinning in Mach speed. It’s proven right when Jaemin holds the wheelie to stop it and the kids, since the sky hasn’t fallen, run to various devices.

 

Renjun intuitively approaches Jaemin who looks like he will throw up anytime. The boy looks like a drunken man walking to Renjun, losing the concept of a straight line to follow. The older catches him perfectly when his body finally gives up, hand resting on the taller’s chest while the other arm is securing his waist.

 

“You can just say no to the kids,” says Renjun, concerns are evident in every syllable of his words. The younger whips his head to him before displaying the playful smile again. It does a terrible work to Renjun who seems like the only one to realize how adjacent they are. “If there’s one thing I can’t refuse, it’s the kids’ puppy eyes.”

 

They lock eyes for a few seconds before Renjun releases his hand from Jaemin awkwardly. “Seems like you’re okay, now,” says him and scurries towards the smaller kids but the boy’s fast hand has grabbed him before he can dash.

 

“Wait. Let’s play what you want to play.”

 

“H-huh?”

 

“Yeah. As a child, there must be a device you like the most and the least. I pick merry-go-round as my Achilles’ heel, though. How about you?”

 

Renjun finds himself looking at the horizontal ladder above him the next second, the one people called as the monkey bar. Since kids, the older has some sort of fear with it. Like he is afraid of falling down after failing his grip. But he is here to confront them again, with Jaemin’s body leaning on one of the supporting pipe of the bar. Renjun climbs a little before reaching the first bar. He gulps, knowing that he will fail anyway but he still does it in case he has grown more muscles and heights and actually can do them now.

 

“Monkey bar. I’ve fallen off it and I don’t want it back in my life,” says him hesitantly without drifting his eyes from the bar. “But I grow up and get taller, right? It shouldn’t be as scary as before.”

 

If there’s something Renjun is good at, it’s masquerading his fear with babble. The boy raises his arms and grips the metal bar hesitantly, with Jaemin following on his side religiously every time he reaches another bar. One bar, and then another bar, and another bar until he reaches midway. At that time, he stops, feeling his muscles slowly giving up. He tries to endure and wants to reach the next one. He just reaches out for the next bar when he feels energy drains from both his arms and panic peaks to his head as he remembers how he fell face first when he was nine. Even though he can control his limbs better as he grows older, the gap between his soles and the soil is still pretty scary. Looking down to check what’s under doesn’t calm him any better, so he just shut his eyes close, giving up to the gravity like he has foreshadowed.

 

The only thing he remembers before releasing his fingers on the metal bar is him crying out Jaemin’s name intuitively and expecting a painful sensation on his bottom and a late rescue, but both never actually come. Instead, he feels two strong arms, fully supporting his weight, and he immediately embraces the person like his dear life depends on him. Renjun opens his eyes to see his surroundings before carefully leaning backward only to meet Jaemin’s amused face only a few inches beneath him, his smile is fond towards Renjun and there are delightful glints crossing his black irises like he is discovering the whole universe right now.

 

Renjun can’t help the untamed imagination spreading like a wildfire in his head. The constant ill-fates that happen between them make it easier for the button to be switched on since they don’t cross paths so often. It’s easier for him to daydream about the younger. Moreover, his ability to form a vivid picture in his head is more than average people can do. But the problem is now he is right in front of Jaemin, the real one, body flushed to each other, and face only a few inches apart. And Jaemin’s lips seem like the only thing that’s in his peripheral which is very weird because he is sure, the taller is not all about lips. He wants to take in Jaemin’s other details too but he can’t seem to tear his eyes away from the plush pair of lips.

 

_God, Jaemin is so fucking ethereal._

 

Butterflies spread in Renjun’s stomach. He blames the Indian summer for the overheat in his head but what he cares about now is that it’s taking control of him, of his rationality, of his logic. Suddenly, he feels powerful, bold, and fucked up at the same time. Under the sun, he is not meticulous and calculated and nerd. He is fearless, a little messed up, and _bad_.

 

_Fuck his first one. Fuck my first one too._

 

“Jaemin, I’m sorry.”

 

“For wh-”

 

Renjun cradles the boy’s jawline with his hands, closes his eyes, and leans in to capture Jaemin’s upper lip between his. The taller is too surprised to comprehend anything, nerves are electrocuted just like that with the smaller’s not-so-gentle kiss. When Renjun pulls away only to snatch another one, Jaemin’s server is repaired and turned on. He gently kisses the boy in his arms back, muttering a low “Slow down, baby” when the other boy is attacking him impatiently again and pulling his hair a tad bit harder. Like a magic, Renjun’s body comply with it while heating up at the same time due to the nickname the boy just called him with. He reduces the eagerness in his action, the lush desire to own Jaemin. It’s as if Jaemin’s compassionate kisses tells him that he owns the whole time in the world and he— _they_ —can do anything in accord of their own will.

 

Renjun pulls away to see Jaemin’s face again, to bring back his sense of himself when he realizes he is not acting like he usually would and maybe takes time to be panicked over it. But Jaemin hasn’t done savoring him, tasting the new flavor his lips never get a chance to have when, really, Renjun probably tastes like the sausage soup he made for Chenle’s lunch, the one he accidentally put a disaster amount of minced garlic. The younger captures his lips again, and again, and again, like he is carelessly addicted to it, and honestly, Renjun can’t be more ashamed after the dawning realization.

 

When Jaemin leans in for the fifth time, the older puts his palm on his lips, startling the younger.

 

“Renjun, what are you doing?”

 

“I’m saving you from g-garlic-”

 

“Damn it, Renjun, you taste like lime-lemon. And you can’t be eating a ton of garlic to traumatize me, right?” Jaemin growls and Renjun shudders. Jaemin is known for his kindness and patience, so this side of him is pretty new.

 

“Put me down, please,” asks the boy politely, cheeks flaming like hell.

 

“And you’ll run away, Renjun, right? I study you the whole day today and you have quite of that tendency when you are blushing,” replies Jaemin. Renjun ducks his head to hide his blushing cheeks to no avail. “I’m not getting false confirmation about this, about _us_ , okay?”

 

“I haven't done talking, idiot.”

 

“What I wanna say is put me down and hold me,” Renjun stares at him in the eyes, looking at the deep dark sea in Jaemin’s orbs. The last sun rays are painting half of his face with strong orange, making him look bolder, more charming. “Because my legs are wobbly, idiot.”

 

Jaemin smiles for the first time after the kiss they share and puts Renjun back to his feet without releasing his arms from the smaller boy’s waist, holding him close to his body. Renjun buries his face into the crook of Jaemin’s neck, breathing in the boy’s fading cologne and smell of freshly washed leather jacket. He feels the taller’s hand stroking his head and it’s so comfortable, so calming for Renjun.

 

“You know, Jun? I never expect that this is going to happen for real. I can’t even imagine it cause you just seem... so far yet so close,” Jaemin confesses. “But, I guess we are on the same boat except we end up kissing and probably being the cutest boyfriends and later getting married on the very same boat because our parents will love it and we will too. Or is it just me?”

 

Renjun punches him lightly but not denying it. He even reddens at the word ‘boyfriends’ because Jaemin seems so excited at the idea when none of them has actually brough it up. Who the hell allows this boy to be so flirty and cute?

 

“I’ve liked you since you dropped your pina-colada popsicle when we are having family gathering in this very park and you just stared it for the longest, saddest five minutes in my life,” Renjun takes turn to confess, bringing a small smile on the taller’s face who plants a kiss on top of his head. “You look stupid and I’ve met a thousand stupids even in my puny school but weirdly you have a great stupid charm.

 

“Sorry for avoiding you, Jaem. That’s actually my way to tell you that I have a massive interest in you.”

 

Jaemin’s smile grows wider and Renjun’s too as they exchange looks, deep and meaningful and full of something that wasn’t there before. Jaemin leans down again and the older closes his eyes but-

 

“Jun ge and Jaem ge, sitting under the monkey bar k-i-s-s-i-n-g!” Chenle sing-songs with eyes covered by Jisung’s hands but it doesn’t hide the bright smile. “I know it!”

 

“Ohmygod, is that allowed?” Jisung supplies helpfully.

 

“I told you about Vines and that's where demons crawl out, right, Jisung?”

**Author's Note:**

> im baaaccckkkkk! with a shitty fic i know this is like... wow wasting time. but here i am bringing you a renmin fic. they are too real i kennot. by the way busway, regular is a jam. talk to me in tumblr or scream something abt nct or got7 or anyone you wanna talk to, @murkcurry.


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